Nations League roundup: Northern Ireland beaten in Kosovo and Spain win

Northern Ireland’s Nations League despair grew deeper as they fell to a 3-2 defeat to Kosovo in Pristina which caused some fans to openly turn on Ian Baraclough.

Early strikes from Vedat Muriqi and Zymer Bytyqi, the first a penalty, put Kosovo in control. And although Shayne Lavery pulled one back on the stroke of half-time, Muriqi’s second at the start of the second half should have ended it, Dan Ballard’s late header notwithstanding.

Northern Ireland’s run of games without a win in this competition extended to 13 matches after their latest setback. The team entered League C Group 2 as top seeds following their relegation and Baraclough boldly talked of targeting 12 points from their June fixtures, but they have taken only one from three matches.

Spain clinched their first Nations League victory after a 1-0 win in Switzerland. Pablo Sarabia scored the decisive goal in the 13th minute after turning in Marcos Llorente’s cross.

Portugal maintained their strong start to the Nations League with a 2-0 home win over Czech Republic. The hosts opened the scoring in Lisbon after 33 minutes when Bernardo Silva set up João Cancelo and the Manchester City full-back fired home from a tight angle.

Silva provided another assist five minutes later, when he released Gonçalo Guedes and the winger rifled a shot into the net. The 2019 champions have taken seven points from their opening three matches to open up a lead over Spain in Group A2.

Sweden slumped to a 1-0 home defeat against Serbia. Luka Jovic scored the winner just before half-time for the visitors.